Lightning-arrester



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. A; SPERRY. LIGHTNING ARRESTER.

Patented Jan. 7, 1890.

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(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

E. A. SHERRY.- LIGHTNING ARRESTBR.

No. 418.824. Patented Jan. 7, 1890.

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UNITED STATEs PATENT OFFICE.

ELMER A. SPERRY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELECTRICAIT"SUPPLY COMPANY, OF ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT.

LlGHTNING-ARRESTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 418,824, dated January7, 1890.

Application filed April 1, 1889. Serial No. 305,581. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELMER A. SPERRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of mi nois, haveinvented anew and useful Improvement in Automatic PoleLightning-Arresters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to pole lightning-arresters, or lightning-arrestersto be attached to the line-wires and led thence to the ground atconvenient intervals, and has for its object to provide a cheap, simple,and convenient lightning-arrester for electric wires.

I 5 My invention is'illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereinFigure l is a side View of the interior with parts shown incross-section. Fig. 2 is a cross-section through the interior operativeparts, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the inner disk,

. and Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the same.

Like parts are indicated by the same letter in all the figures. V

A is the case containing the operative parts, and having within the lugsA A, secured by screws to its sides, and above the line hook A havingthe inner wedge-shaped portion A and the securing-bolt A above.

To the case A is secured the removable bottom B, having the cylindricalportion B, through which projects the rod C. About this rod and withinthe cylindrical portion may be placed the insulation B and on the rod Cmay be secured the clamp B having on one end the thumb-screw B and onthe other the grounding-wire B The rod C is screw-threaded into a yokeC, which is secured by screws to the lower portion of the disk D, uponthelower surface of which is secured the insulation D. The disk 'Dshould be of Wood or of non-conducting material. It is secured by thebolts D D to the lugs A A.

On theupper central portion of the disk D is secured the post E, fromwhich rises the standard E, carrying the spring-contacts E E adapted toengage the piece A and thus to connect ths post E with the line-wirewhen the lightning-arrester is in position. Pivoted to the four sides ofthis postare the movable 5o discharge-plates E E E E each provided witha downwardly-projecting outward serrated lip and the pendant E havingthe setscrew E", to bear against the body of the post.

F F F F are fixed serrated dischargeplates in the path of the serratedlips on the respective movable discharge-plates. From this it willappear that all of the movable discharge-plates are in metallic contactwith the post and with the springs thereon, and hence through the hook Awith the line-wire, and by the operation of the various set-screws theywill be normally separated, and by operating the set-screws they willnormally be set so as to bring the serrated lips of such movabledischarge-plates at a proper distance from the fixed serrateddischarge-plates opposed to such lips, so as to permit the passage of anextra strong current-as, for instance, that induced bylightning. Passingto the other or lower side of such disk, and referring to Fig. 4, wefind G is a bolt leading from the fixed serrated discharge-plate Fthence connection ismade through the plate G to bolt G and thence to thefusible wire G thence to the con- 7 5 ductor G and thence to the yoke C,to the rod C, and thence to the ground-wire B II is the bolt whichsecures the fixed serrated discharge-plate F to the disk D, and fromsuch bolt leads the metallic connection H to the bolt H thence to thefusible wire H and thence to the conductor H J is the bolt which securesthe fixed serrated discharge-plate E and to such bolt is secured themetallic piece J, leading to the bolt J and thence to the fusible wire Jwhich in turn leads to the conductor G K is a reciprocating rod, notchedat its lower end to engage and thus be supported by the fusible wire G Kis a similar rod or tube supported by the fusible wire H and having atits upper end a button K bearing against a spring K on the bottom of themovable disoharge-plate E. On the movable discharge-plate E is a similarspring to engage a similar head on the top of the tube L. The

tube K, which rests upon the fusible wire G has a head M to rest againstthe spring M on the movable discharge-plate E.

Thearrangementof the tubes or rods K, K, and L with reference to theirrespective dis- "ehargeplates, springs, heads, and fusible wires is thesame in each case, and is indicated fullyin Figs. 1 and 2 with referenceto the rod K.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows: All of the movabledischargeplates E E are normally in the elevated positions shown inFigs. 1, 2, and 3that is to say, the serrated lips far from contact withthe fixed serrated discharge-plates on the disk. Since the heads of therespective tubes or rods K K L are of non-conducting material, nocontact is made, and hence no current can pass from such elevateddischarge-plates to the rod C and thence to the ground. If now all theserods were lowered or made to descend, the set-screws in the inner lugson such discharge-plates are so placed as to bring the two serratededges in each case'closely togetheras,for example, to about the distanceindicated as the distance between the lip E and the contact F in Fig. 1,or such a distance as would not permitof the passage of the ordinarycurrent, but could be passed by an unusual or extraordinary current. Thedevice being thus constructed is secured to theline-wire by means of thehook A and the set-screwA Contact is therefore made from such line-wire,to the central post and all the movable discharge-plates, but notbeyond them, as no ordinary current could leap from the lip E to thecontact F If now an extraordinary charge be applied to the linewireas,for instance, from lightning-the strong current will leap across thespace intcrvening between the serrated lip E and the fixed serrateddischarge-plate F and pass through such contact, through bolt G,(referring to 1,) plate G, bolt G fusible wire G conductor G yoke 0, rod0, and (referring to Fig. l) clamp B grounding-wire B, which leads tothe ground, and such extraordinary charge of electricity would thus beconducted to the earth, the fusible wire G being, however, fused in theoperation, so as to break the circuit and prevent any further currentfrom passing through the circuit just described when the current is ofsuch character as to short-circuit the dynamo by causing thedynamo-circuit to follow or otherwise. By reference to Fig. 1 it will beobserved that as by this action the fusible wire G3 is fused thesolitary support of the tube or rod K is removed, and the same will falluntil its head engages the upper surface of the disk; but this releasesthe movable discharge-plate E and leaves its serrated lip at about thesame distance from the fixed dischargeplate F as is the lip E from themovable dischargeplate F hence the arrester is still in condition toreceive and dispose of extraordinary charges. It now a charge isreceived, it will leap the space between the lip E 011 the movabledischarge-plate E and the fixed discharge-plate F and pass thence(referring to Fig. 4) to the bolt ll, plate 11, nut H fusible wire K,conductor G and thence in the same manner to the ground, and when suchcurrent again becomes too strong or of too long duration, or if the linebe short-circuited, it will at the same time fuse the conductor H aslast above described, and thus permit the tube or bar K to drop and thedischargeplate E, with its lip E to be brought into operative distancefrom the fixed dischargeplate F. This operation will be continued, eachmovable discharge-plate being cut out of circuit while the next adjacentmovable discharge-plate is thrown into position, until all have beenoperated, and there might be any number of them, though I have shown butfour. The first movable discharge-plate is normally in operativeposition and the others are normally out of operative position; but.each is adapted to be thrown into operation by the operation of the nextpreceding one.

It will be apparent that many changes could be made withoutdepartingfrom the spirit of my invention.

The word circuit is thought preferable in connection with this case,inasmuch as it is always used to indicate the path of a current. It isherein used for this identical purpose an d to indicate that path of thecurrent which includes also the open space between the discharge-plates.It must be understood herein that such circuit is supposed to beestablished when the discharge-plates are brought near enough togetherto permit the passage of an abnormal electro-motive force.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In alightning-arrester, the coi'nbination of a series of movabledisclnrge-plates provided with serrated outer edges, a series of opposedfixed serrated discharge-plates, a series of circuits, each includingone of such movable discharge-plates and fixed dischargeplates, a seriesof movable stops to normally hold all but the first of such movabledischarge-plates out of position, a fusible conductor in each of suchcircuits supporting the stop for the next movable discharge-plate, sothat when a destructive current passes through one circuit it breaksthat circuit and establishes the next.

2. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates provided with outer edges, a series of opposed fixeddischarge-plates, a series of circuits, each including one of suchmovable dischargeplates and one of such fixed discharge-plates, a seriesof movable stops to normally hold all but the first of such movabledischarge-plates out of position, a fusible conductor in each of saidcircuits supporting the stop for the ICO next movable discharge-plate,so that when a destructive current passes through one circuit itbreaksthat circuit and establishes the next.

3. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits, each including one of suchmovable discharge-plates, a series of movable stops to normally hold allbut the first of such movable discharge-plates out of position, afusible conductor in each of said circuits supporting the stop for thenext movable discharge-plate, so that when a destructive current passesthrough one circuit it breaks that circuit and establishes the next.

4. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits, each including one of suchmovable discharge-plates, a series of stops to normally hold all but thefirst'of such movable discharge-plates out of position, a fusibleconductor in each of said circuits supporting the stop for the nextmovable 'discharge-plate, so that when a destructive current passesthrough one circuit it breaks that circuit and establishes the next.

5. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits, each including one of suchmovable discharge-plates, a series of fusible conductors, one in each ofsaid circuits and supporting the movable discharge -plate of the nextcircuit in a non-operative position, so that when a destructive currentpasses through one circuit it breaks its own circuit and establishes thenext.

6. In a lightningarrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates provided with serrated outer edges, a series of opposedfixed serrated discharge-plates, a series of circuits, each includingone of such movable discharge-plates and one fixed discharge-plate, aseries of stops to normally hold all but the first of such movabledischarge-plates out of position, a fusible conductor in each of saidcircuits supporting the stop for the next movable discharge-plate, sothat when adestructive currentpa-sses through one circuit it breaks thatcircuit and establishes the next.

7. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates provided withv serrated outer edges, a series ofopposed fixed serrateddischarge-plates, a series of circuits, eachincluding one of such movable discharge-plates and one fixeddischargeplate, a series of fusible conductors, one in each of saidcircuits, supporting a movable dischargeplate for the next circuit, sothat when a destructive current passes through one circuit it breaks itsown circuit and establishes the next.

8. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates provided with outer edges, a series of opposed fixeddischarge-plates, a series of circuits,

each including one of such movable discharge plat-es and one fixeddischarge-plate, and a series of fusible conductors, one in each of suchcircuits, supporting a movable discharge-plate for the next circuit, sothat when a destructive current passes through one circuit it breaks itsown circuit and establishes the next.

9. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits, each including one of suchmovable discharge-plates, a series of fusible conductors, one in each ofsuch circuits, supporting a movable discharge-plate for the nextcircuit, so that when a destructive current passes through one circuitit breaks its own circuit and establishes the next.

10. In a lightning-an'ester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits containing each a conductor fromthe line-wire, a conductor to ground, and one of such movabledischarge-plates, a series of supports, whereby such movabledischarge-plates, except the first, are normally held out of operativeposition, said supports controlled each by the preceding circuit in theseries, so that when a destructive current passes through any circuit itbrings the movable discharge-plate of the next succeeding circuit intooperative position.

, 1.1. In alightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits, each including one of suchdischarge-plates, a series of fusible conduct ors in each circuit, eachof such fusible conductors serving to keep the movable discharge-platein the next circuit out of operation, so that when a destructive currentpasses through one circuit it fuses such wire and breaks such circuitand at the same time establishes the next.

12. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a pivoted movabledischarge-plate with a piece which normally holds the same away from thefixed discharge-plate, a fusible conductor which engages such piece, anda series of circuits, one including such fusible conductor and anothersuch pivoted discharge-plate.

13. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series of movabledischarge-plates, a series of circuits containing, each a conductor fromthe line-wire, a conductor to ground, and one of such movabledischarge-plates, a series of supports, whereby such movabledischarge-plates, except the first, are held normally out of operativeposition, and a series of fusible conductors, one in each circuit, andconnected with such supports, said support-s controlled each by thepreceding circuit in the series, so that when a destructive currentpasses through any circuit it brings the movable discharge-plate of thenext succeeding circuit int-o operative position.

14. In a lightning-arrester, the combination of a series ofcentrally-pivoted movable dislIO charge-plates having serrated outerlips, a ports such rod, and a seriesof circuits, one ro series of fixedserrated discharge-plates,opinoluding' such discharge-plate and anotherposed to such lips, and means for normally such fusible conductor.

holding all but the first of said movable dis- Signed this 30th day ofMarch, 1889.

5 charge-plates out of operz tive posit-10 ELMER A SHERRY 10. In allg'htning-arresier, the combiu anon of a pivoted movabledischarge-plate with a In presence ofreciprocating roclwhich normallyholds the FRANCIS N. PARKER, same elevated, a fusible conductor whichsup- FRANCIS M. IRELAND.

